Electrician remanded over millionaire's killing

An electrician who moved to Britain from America with the multi-millionaire widow of a murdered investment banker was today remanded in custody charged with the killing.

Daniel Pelosi, 40, was held without bail after pleading not guilty to the murder of Ted Ammon.

Pelosi married Mr Ammon’s widow, Generosa, after her husband was found bludgeoned to death at his mansion in East Hampton, the summer resort of wealthy New Yorkers.

Pelosi and Ms Ammon moved to an estate in Cranleigh, Surrey after they were wed, but they later separated. Mrs Ammon died of cancer last year.

In her will, Mrs Ammon left British nanny Kathryn Ann Mayne €959,900 and the lifetime use of a seaside mansion.

Ms Mayne was also given custody of the couple’s two children.

After months of media speculation, followed by a grand jury probe in New York, Pelosi was indicted on Monday over the killing of Mr Ammon.

He appeared before Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle on the second-degree murder charge today and was held without bail.

He did not speak at the hearing, but his lawyer, Gerald Shargel, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Pelosi faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Mr and Mrs Ammon were just days away from finalising a bitter divorce when he was killed in October 2001 in his Long Island mansion.

A post-mortem examination showed Ammon, a former general partner at the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, was hit over the head with a blunt object.

His estate was reportedly worth more than €82.5m.

Pelosi had helped oversee the installation of a security system at the millionaire’s estate.

After they were wed, Pelosi and Ammon and her two children moved to Surrey to seek privacy.

But they returned to the US when she was diagnosed with cancer.

They split and she died in the summer of last year, aged 46. Pelosi received a reported €1.6m but nothing in her will.

Pelosi’s lawyers are currently challenging the validity of the will in court.